The two of us have spent nearly every day of the past 17 years working on the fight against disease and poverty, but today, we are concerned. After a generation of historic progress, the world’s commitment to helping its poorest people is more uncertain than at any time since we started our foundation.

Hope Through Healing Hands presented the latest findings of an important study on perceptions about international nutrition to key leaders in Washington, D.C., last week, with the goal of educating organizations promoting global nutrition about successful messaging for stronger advocacy, legislation, and funding for the issue. The study was funded by the Eleanor Crook Foundation, and it was conducted by executive director Jenny Eaton Dyer, Ph.D., and Brian L. Heuser, Ed.D of Vanderbilt University.

This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to make some serious decisions on funding levels for global health programs. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is even on the key subcommittee. Such foreign assistance — less than one percent of the total U.S. budget — was cut by 32 percent in President Donald Trump’s first budget request.

There is no period more critical in a child’s development than its first few months of life, which is why so much attention is paid to what the mother, and the child, eats during that time. Nutritionists like to call it the “golden window” — the slim period of time where a child, if he gets the right nutrients, can set out on a healthy path, or, if he doesn’t, risks irreversible stunting and developmental delays. “Eighty percent of the brain development happens in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, starting from conception,” says nutritionist Sanjay Kumar Das.

The blown-up photograph in Mark Green’s office, still waiting to be hung, symbolizes everything the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development believes foreign development aid should strive for.

The Senate confirmation last week of our colleague Ambassador Mark Green to be USAID Administrator comes amid the struggle between the president and Congress over the administration’s proposed 30 percent cuts to foreign assistance. In this convergence of events, we see a real opportunity for Congress and the administration to do much more than debate where the burden of potential cuts might fall, and instead make lasting reforms to make our foreign assistance better able to enjoy long-term success and provide savings far beyond next year’s budget. Success will not be easy and will require significant changes to our approach to development.

Hayford Amponsam was making his daily rounds in this small town in south-central Ghana when he came across an infant who was dangerously ill. She had bloody diarrhea and had been coughing up thick mucus for days. Her mother had only sought treatment from a nearby traditional healer.

While more and more of us are living lives augmented by virtual reality, self-driving cars and “smart” homes, a global report released July 12 by the authoritative Joint Monitoring Program on Water Supply and Sanitation shows that 2.1 billion people don’t even have access to safe drinking water at home.

At a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing in June, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made the case for continued U.S. investment in programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to end pandemic diseases. “As a Republican, I’m proud of President Bush, who came up with a program called PEPFAR,” he said. “The return on the dollar for the PEPFAR program has been absolutely astounding.”

There are about 214 million women around the world who want to avoid pregnancy but don’t have access to contraception, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Addressing this unmet need is part of the inspiration for the theme of this year's World Population Day on Tuesday: "family planning."

Each year, 1 million newborns die during their first day of life, 1.3 million babies are stillborn, and more than 300,000 mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth. That's about as many deaths as the entire population of Namibia.

Every day, about 830 women die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth around the world. The suffering is completely unnecessary. Every day, about 830 women die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth around the world. For each death there are many more women who suffer traumatic, life-changing injuries due to pregnancy and childbirth. These figures are tragic, particularly when you consider that the majority of the cases occur in developing countries and almost all of them are preventable.

The two of us have spent nearly every day of the past 17 years working on the fight against disease and poverty, but today, we are concerned. After a generation of historic progress, the world’s commitment to helping its poorest people is more uncertain than at any time since we started our foundation.

This week was an interesting week. During clinic days there were a number of good ultrasound teaching
cases including a DVT US which was positive. There was a unique opportunity to go the regional hospital
in Linden which is a mining town and more resource poor in terms of medical care.

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. From the moment I saw the sign with my name held by the friendliest driver I’ve ever had at the airport in Nairobi all I have seen are smiles. Every person I have encountered has been nothing but kind and welcoming.

This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to make some serious decisions on funding levels for global health programs. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is even on the key subcommittee. Such foreign assistance — less than one percent of the total U.S. budget — was cut by 32 percent in President Donald Trump’s first budget request.

As women, sometimes we can be consumed with the needs of all the people right before us in our homes and communities. Yet, there is a longing in each of us to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We experience empathy and concern for others, our neighbors, both near and far.

Hi Ryan Van Nostrand here in Georgetown, Guyana. This is the end of my second week and it has been an educational and enjoyable experience working in the GPHC. Over the last two weeks I have been able to gain an insight to the difficulties and similarities between medicine in the US and Guyana. It has been a pleasure to work with the doctors and staff in the Emergency Department and I have really enjoyed being able to teach and learn from the residents here.

I am sitting on the terrace of my hotel in Kathmandu, sipping spicy masala tea and looking out at the cityscape for the last time. Below me, the pudgy, fresh-faced toddlers of affluent Nepalis learn to swim in the crystal-clear swimming pool, a far cry from the muddy, leech-infested floodwaters of the nation’s rivers and lakes. The all-seeing eyes of the Boudhanath stupa, the holiest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of those in Tibet, gaze placidly down at me from their towering perch above Kathmandu, watching over the nation. In the distance, somewhat obscured by the dust and smog of the capital city, I can see the Himalayan foothills, their dark, untamed beauty seductive in its wildness. I think of my ten SBA students, scattered now throughout isolated villages in those very mountains, providing contraception services and prenatal care and delivering babies in remote clinics. I offer up a silent prayer for them, and for the women, children, and families they are serving.